A Bizarre Explosion
by Eyes Kaput
Summary: Louise always knew that she was destined for greatness. How exactly, she wasn't sure. But that was until she got her hands on a certain magical arrow.
1. Prologue

  
**Chapter 1: Prologue  
**  
Louise de la Valliere was a unique girl.

Being the only mage unable to properly cast spells was one thing, but that was not what set her apart from the others.

 _"Zero!"_

 _"Why can't you do anything right?"_

 _"Just leave already!"  
_  
It was not the fact that she was getting bullied either, for bullying is a fairly common occurrence. But if anything, the bullying brought out her unique traits more.

 _"Shut up! I'll show you!"_

It was her determination that made her so different. It was in the way she always held her head high, despite all her failures. It was in the fact that no matter how many times life brought her down, she never gave up.

 _"I swear! I'll become better than all of you!"_

And it was in the manic gleam in her eyes as she shouted these words.

 _"I'll become the greatest mage that ever lived!"_

Truly, Louise de la Valliere was a unique person. In fact, some would call her downright _bizarre._

A BIZARRE EXPLOSION 


	2. Unexpected Summons

Louise stood at the back of the crowd of students. She would've liked to be in front, but her nerves were on edge, and it showed. Her eyes darted left and right, and her hands were shaking. A far cry from the proud demeanor she held just the night before.

 _Calm down. Calm down..._

She just had to go and run her mouth again, didn't she? Louise didn't even know where the voice that prompted her to spout those words last night had come from, and she didn't know where it went. She certainly regretted her actions now though. Or she should be, but strangely enough, she didn't.

"Next up, Kirche von Zerbst."

A redhead strode to the front of the group. She waved her wand and chanted. A moment later, a green disc formed, spitting out a large red lizard and then promptly disappearing.

 _A fire lizard,_ Louise idly noted. She ought to be jealous, or perhaps happy for the lucky girl, but she couldn't muster up any joy from seeing a creature like that. _Weak. Worthless._

 _Beneath me._

And there it was again. The pride and gloating that appeared at the weirdest of moments. It was practically instinct by now. Louise should've driven it away, pushed it to the back of her mind where it can't interfere, but instead she accepted. Basked in it. When one faced as many problems and hardships as her, they had to take whatever they can get.

Even the unfounded feelings and instincts that came from nowhere.

It was as if Louise became a different person. She stood ramrod straight and held her head up, making her appear to have a larger presence than a person of her stature ought to have. Her eyes held a fierce determination in then, such that no one can question her right to be here in the Academy of Magic.

"Next, Louise de la Valliere."

She strode forward. The crowd parted to let her through. They sneered at her. Louise glared back. Most couldn't meet her intense glare and had to look away. As she approached the front, only one person had the courage to face her.

Kirch von Zerbst gave her a wide grin. "I can't wait to see you fail, Zero."

Louise almost insulted her back, but then...

 _Beneath me._

They all were. So Louise opted to not say anything, instead going forward to meet Professor Colbert.

"Miss Valliere, please summon your familiar," the professor said.

Louise nodded. She waved her wand. The crowd backed up, fearing for the impending explosion.

Louise began to chant. Her mind brought up the words that she had long prepared and memorized. Words that she knew would be vital in summoning her familiar.

"My serv-"

And then it stopped. Her voice choked. The words seemed to have left her, disappearing from her memory without a trace. Louise nearly panicked then and there. She would've, should've, if it wasn't for the still small voice took over once more.

Louise continued her chant. The words that flowed out were strange and unknown to her, but they felt like they belonged, like they should've been the words that Louise came up with in the first place.

The crowd began to murmur, many wondering what she was doing. Louise ignored them, instead focusing on the spell that she know would determine her fate. Her wand moved about, weaving a pattern that she never saw before, but felt distinctly familiar. As her chant came to a close, her wand slammed down with a flourish, pointing at the ground.

There was no explosion, no dust and certainly none of the smoke that came with her usual spells. Instead, a golden arrow shimmered into existence. It was something Louise had never seen in her life, but felt like it belonged. Like a missing piece of her soul.

Louise cried. She cried tears of joy.

oOo

"Hey, did you hear?"

"What?"

"The Zero failed again. Apparently she summoned a weapon instead of-"

Kirche tuned them out. Instead, she tried focused on her dinner. Tabitha sat beside her, not saying anything, but then again, she almost never did. Kirche played with her meal, a dish of beef with a savory sauce. Normally, the dining hall's food was enough to make her mouth water, but today, her heart wasn't in it.

"Tabitha."

"Hmm?"

"What do you think of what happened this afternoon?"

Tabitha paused for a moment, but then went back to eating her food. Kirch almost thought Tabitha wasn't going to say anything, but she knew better. After a minute, Tabitha spoke. "Interesting."

"In what way?" Kirche asked.

Tabitha tilted her head. "Louise... was not disappointed. Happy. Proud of what she summoned."

Kirche hummed. Kirche thought that the girl was devastated, what with her crying and all. But Tabitha is a whole lot more observant than she is, and so Kirche would trust her judgement. She looked around the room and didn't see Louise anywhere.

 _So she's not attending dinner. Again._ Louise only skipped dinner when she was distracted by something. Which meant that she was doing something with her 'familiar'.

 _Hmm, this needs some observation._

oOo

Louise placed the arrow on her desk. She was gentle in doing it, almost reverent, like she was a handling a relic blessed by the Founder himself. Perhaps it was.

She gently rubbed her finger against the side of the arrow. The blade, despite appearing dull, drew blood. For the fifth time, Louise had the strange idea to stab herself with it. She held the weapon up, inspecting the beetle emblem on the side of the arrow head. It had a golden beetle inscribed on it. What kind, Louise didn't know, but it looked very beautiful.

Beautiful enough to stab herself with.

Louise shook away the thought. She was never a suicidal person, but now she was starting to doubt herself. Perhaps the years of social abuse was getting to her.

Louise held the arrow up and inspected it against the light. The arrow seemed to shimmer, reflecting the light in ways normal metal shouldn't be able to.

 _Not gold then._ Perhaps a magical metal of some sorts. That answered some questions, but it didn't tell Louise what she was supposed to do with this. Asides from stab-

Aaand maybe it was time for her to go to sleep. Louise must've been more tired than she thought. She should put the arrow away. Louise twirled the arrow, a habit that she got from playing around with her wand. Maybe she could keep it in her drawer? But then again, that didn't really feel like a proper place to-

She let go. The arrow spun into the air.

"Holy-"

It landed in her lap. Louise breathed a sigh of relief. She moved her arm to pick it up.

The arrow pierced into her thigh.

"What the-"

Louise nearly screamed, not from the pain but from the shocking feeling in her leg. It felt like a lightning bolt was traveling through her body. Louise tried to pull the arrow out, but it sunk in deeper, going in until the arrow was gone from sight.

She panicked. Louise tried to scream for help, but her voice got stuck in her throat. She blacked out.

oOo

Louise woke up with a start. Her hands moved towards her legs, feeling for a wound that was not there. Her eyes looked down to confirm it. There was no blood, no hole and certainly no evidence of what happened last night. The arrow was on the ground beside her.

"Maybe it was just a dream..." But it didn't feel like it. It was too vivid to be anything but real.

Louise began preparing for the day. She changed out of her uniform into a fresh set. She brushed her hair, taking good care of the long locks that she valued so much. Louise looked at herself in the mirror. Satisfied with her appearance, she decided to head out.

As she approached the door, a pink hand appeared and opened it for her. Louise whirled around.

There was no one there.


	3. Dinner for Two

**A/N: Throwing this out before I forget, this story will feature stands from JoJo. I will try to avoid creating original stands, and will instead showcase FoZ characters possessing stands from JoJo. And also, if I do any name changes (Eg. Crazy Diamond to Shining Diamond) it will probably be for an important reason, so please bear with me. This story will feature some AU changes not present in either source materials.**

 **Oh yeah, wasn't able to work on this cuz school and stress and all that. But it's going to be vacation in about a month or so, so I'd be able to write more often soon.**

The dining hall bustled with activity. It was still early in the morning, but it was already beginning to fill up. And how could it not? The energy from yesterday's activities were still present; the second year student's could hardly rest, each of them excited for the day with their new familiars. Of course, this infectious energy would spread to the other classes. Already, the rumour mills were at work. The students were talking about who summoned what, and what this meant for the new masters.

"I heard she summoned a dragon. Imagine how powerful she must be!"

"That girl summoned a lowly frog. But then again, what would you expect of someone of her status?"

"See that one over there? That's a beholder. I heard-"

And of course, there was the _Zero._

"Will she be expelled?"

"Of course. For her to fail so badly, the teachers have no choice but-"

When the person in question walked into the hall, all chattering stopped. Louise de la Valliere didn't spare a second in looking at them; instead, she went straight to her seat. Some would think she didn't have the courage to speak with them. Others would say her silence was proof of her grief for failing.

They were all wrong.

Louise's mind was far away from any thoughts of failure. In fact, she was distracted because of what she considered to be a _success._ For when Louise would look at her arm and focus, she would see a gloved hand settle on top of her own. It was ethereal and strange, like a being not of this world.

But to Louise, it felt like it belonged.

* * *

Back in her room, Louise slammed a fist on her desk.

"Damn it!"

No matter how hard she tried, only a hand would form. Louise knew that there was something more there, that there was more to it than just a gloved hand. The there was an entire creature somewhere in there, if she can only bring it out.

How she knew all these things, she didn't know. It was just natural to Louise. It like her boastful nature, or the mysterious chant she used. It was just _instinct_. And it was instinct that let her know that her familiar wasn't just a hand.

But calling it her familiar felt wrong. It was not a physical creature of any sort. Sure, ghosts and stranger beings have been summoned before, but Louise just _knew_ that this thing was no familiar. It was close enough, but it served a very different purpose than running around and collecting magical reagents for her.

Louise also knew that the golden arrow wasn't her familiar. Looking at it now, it elicited none of the joy or longing that she felt just the day before. In fact, it appeared very normal and unappealing. But Louise knew it was dangerous, and she had a sinking feeling that it was the reason that she now had a hand that appeared whenever she wanted it too.

Having nothing else to use the arrow for, Louise decided to keep it somewhere safe. Not knowing where to leave it, she decided to place it on top of her closet. Unfortunately, she was not tall enough to reach the top. Try as she might, her short hands couldn't reach the top. She didn't want to be careless and just throw the arrow up, the last time that happened, she got stabbed and passed out.

Of course, that probably won't happen again, but Louise wanted to be gentle with the arrow. _Damn it, just a little closer._

Just as she was ready to give up, an entire pink arm appeared, gently took the arrow from her, and placed it on top. Louise sighed. Now if only she could get the figure to appear when she wanted it to. She knew that she just needed to _will_ it, but how much does she need to want for it to happen?

The answer: she didn't know. Louise just knew that it would appear when she needs it to.

"Why is this so frustrating..." Louise rubbed her forehead. She needed something to take her mind off of this. Just then, her stomach growled. _Maybe I should go and eat lunch_.

Having nothing else to do, she decided to head back downstairs.

* * *

The moment Louise stepped into the hall, it became silent. Again. Just like this morning. She could see all the eyes staring at her, judging her, belittling her. She wanted to turn and leave, but then again, they were _beneath her_.

So Louise decided to ignore their stares. She went straight to a free table and took a seat. The maids were moving about, pushing around carts loaded with cakes and dishes. Louise took a plate of chocolate cake, delighting in the sweet taste.

A redheaded girl and her friend took a seat beside her. Louise continued eating her cake.

"Louise."

She took another bite. Was it just her, or was the cake more delicious than usual today? No, the cake was delicious everyday. Maybe it was something else. The taste of success, perhaps?

"Louise!"

Either way, there was something about this day that seemed better than normal days. Now if only she can get rid of the more minor annoyances, like the constant stares, or the person who was disturbing her.

"Louise!"

Louise sighed. "What do you want, Zerbst?"

"Are you feeling okay?" Kirche asked.

"What makes you say that?"

"You seem more happy than usual."

Louise glared at her. "You saying I'm not usually happy?"

Kirche turned to look at Tabitha. "No it's..." Kirche sighed. "Tabitha you tell her."

Tabitha didn't say anything. She flipped through her book, her eyes scanning the pages, not a word leaving her mouth. Louise almost turned back to her plate, but Tabitha spoke. "Thought you'd be worried. About… failing the Summoning Ritual."

Louise felt her eye twitch.

"Um, Louise," Kirche fiddled her thumbs. "If you need anyone to talk to, you can approach us."

"Since when did you care?" Louise snapped.

"Well, um..." Kirche had no proper answer to that.

Having nothing else to say, their conversation lulled into uncomfortable silence. Louise was content to eat her cake in peace. Kirche would frequently give her strange looks, but Louise opted to follow Tabitha's example and ignore the red-headed girl. She took another bite of her chocolate cake.

"Mmmm."

 _So sweet!_

 _Indeed, the taste of peace is most delectable._

A plate of cake in one hand and the power of a familiar (she still wasn't sure what to call it) in the other, Louise felt like nothing could go wrong.

Which of course, was the exact moment when things did.

A large slap resounded across the dining hall. A brown haired girl rushed by Louise's table in tears. Louise glanced up just in time to see Montmorency say something and dump the contents of an entire bottle of wine on Guiche's head.

"You liar!" Montmorency shouted before storming off.

Guiche could only sigh and wipe at his face with a handkerchief. He said, "It would seem that those ladies do not understand the meaning of a rose's existence."

Louise's eye twitched. _What an unsightly display._ She didn't have to listen to the gossip already floating about to realize that Guiche was caught cheating.

With a flourish, Guiche spun around to point a finger at a nearby maid. "Thanks to you thoughtlessly picking up the bottle, the reputation of those two ladies have been damaged." Louise felt her other eye twitch."How will you take responsibility?"

 _This guy can't be serious._

The maid seemed to shrink on herself. "M-milord, I-I only sought t-to do what I thought w-was right and return the b-bottle."

Guiche tsked. "And look what you did! When you placed the bottle on the table, I pretended not to know anything, didn't I? Would it have hurt to be a little tactful and go along with it?"

"M-milord, p-please forgive me…"

Louise sneered. Normally, it would be unbecoming of a noble such as her status to display such actions, but she felt that it was okay in the given situation. After all, a noble was verbally abusing a maid in her very presence, and it seemed like those around her planned on doing nothing to stop it.

But then again, she experienced a similar scene an uncountable times already, didn't she? When she would get verbally attacked just for the fun of others, and no one would stand up to help her.

It was such a pathetic sight.

 _To think a 'noble' would act so pitifully. How disgusting._

"How disgusting."

The resulting silence was deafening. Louise looked up and realized everyone was looking at her. She swallowed. She hadn't spoken aloud, had she?

Guiche rounded on her. "You said something, Zero?"

Oh, she had. She couldn't take back her words, so Louise opted to go with it. "It's pretty disgusting. To think that a supposed noble has nothing better to do than take out his frustration on a maid," she said. "A frustration caused by his own wrongdoing, by the way. How pitiful for a noble to act in such a lowly manner."

Guiche scoffed. "Really, _Zero_?" Louise stiffened at the stress on her 'nickname'. "Do you think you have any right to lecture about what it means to be a noble, when you're the one noble in the world who can't use magic?"

Louise clenched her fists. "T-that doesn't excuse how you've been acting! A noble must always-"

"Blah blah blah," Guiche interrupted, waving a hand in a dismissive manner. "Why should I listen to you? Who are you to think you can lecture me about anything?"

Louise could hear her teeth grinding. She knew he was goading her, she knew that she was being baited. But-

 _Calm down!_

She couldn't help but answer in anger.

"I'm a proud member of the Valliere family! And I-"

Guiche laughed, interrupting her once more. "Really? You may be proud of your family, but I don't think they'd be proud of you."

Louise froze. She was looking down, the bangs of her hair covering her eyes. To those watching, they would think the shaking of her body was a sign of Louise about to cry, a sign of her shame and despair. To Tabitha and Kirche sitting close by, however, they could clearly see the way her clenched fists shook, the way her knuckles turned white and her nails dug into her palms, causing it to bleed. Louise radiated with anger.

"After all, you're the one member in their family incapable of magic. The one person who can't summon a familiar. The one Valliere in generations of glory to be a complete failure! Why-"

Her fist slammed on the table, her plate breaking with a loud _crack_. Louise looked up and glared at Guiche. There were no tears at the edge of her eyes, but rather they shone with unbridled anger.

Louise saw red..

"Guiche de Gramont!" she roared. Guiche flinched. "You can insult me all you want, but don't you dare insult my family name! For insulting my family honour, I challenge you to a duel!"

Louise felt a presence form behind her, but she payed it no attention.

"I-I, w-what," Guiche stammered. He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "N-now, I may have spoken too much. But that's no reason to-"

"Thirty minutes from now. In the Vestri Court," Louise said. "If you don't show up, I'll take it as a sign that you forfeit."

"W-wait-"

Louise didn't bother to listen to what he had to say. She turned around and walked away. Kirche tried to stop her, but Louise easily pushed her away. She strode to the large doors at the entrance of the dinner hall.

Before she could touch them with her hands, however, a large pink figure stepped into the way and opened them for her. Under the haze of her anger, Louise didn't register any of its details asides from the fact that it had red eyes. Eyes that matched hers.

When the anger finally cleared (or at least dissipated to the point that she could think straight), Louise was finally able to collect her thoughts. Those were hers and might not be hers. And with a shock, she realized that for the first time, her own thoughts and the strange voice shared the exact same conviction.

A conviction that, for the moment, seemed to resonate with her soul.

 _I'll crush him to the ground!_


End file.
